How do you control the margins in TextEdit?

[mikelly3614]

I have a related issue -- or dumb question: How do I compose some text in TextEdit that's wider than my screen ? To print 7 3/4" wide, my line needs to be 15 1/2" on the screen. If I zoom out, the image jumps down to about 50% -- too small to work on. What are my options ?

 

[mikelly3614]

Not sure why you have to print from a doc that's twice the resolution to get correct size, but I'm sending you a couple templates to be able to do so.

 

[mikelly3614]

Not sure why you have to print from a doc that's twice the resolution to get correct size, but I'm sending you a couple templates to be able to do so.

the second template (in .rtf format) wasn't able to be uploaded.

 

[sdrdesign]

I'm not sure either. Thanks for the template !

 

[mikelly3614]

not a problem. I basically created a custom size in Word, and exported as an rtf. opened it in TextEdit converted it to an rtfd. glad I could help!

 

[sdrdesign]

So -- now I have a template large enough for the job. I just increased my typography by 50%. But there's clearly something I don't know, as my to-print output is still only 66% as wide as it needs to be. What can I adjust to remedy this, do you know ?

In both the standard TextEdit template and the one you made for me, the inch scale at the top doesn't seem to relate to the printing size. That hasn't been an issue for me, 'til now. I'm printing on 8 1/2" wide paper, and want my text to extend to about 3/8" of each edge of the paper, so I'm looking to make my line of text 7 3/4" long.

 

[sdrdesign]

Hmm. I can make the image larger on the printed page by orienting the paper sideways. I should be able to get what I want that way. Thanks for your help, Mikelly.

 

[ualpilot1964]

Changing margins a piece of cake!

In TextEdit is is reasonably easy to change the margins to nearly anything you want-- down to the very edge of the paper. The other people who responded to your question who said it couldn't be done, just don't realize how easy it is.

First, open the file viewing the RTF codes
• Open TextEdit.
• Do a Command-O and look at the Open dialog box.
• Select the file whose margins you want to change.
• Check the "Ignore Rich Text Commands" option box.
• Click "Okay".

Second, change the margins RTF codes
• In the header of the document you will see a line that specifies the margins. This line will probably being this way: "\margl1440". The "marg" refers to "margin", and the letters that follow it stand for the margin sides: "l" = left, "r" = right, "t" = top, "b" = bottom. I believe that 1440 equals 1 inch. So, 20 equals one pixel on a 72 dpi screen.
• Change the numbers to your liking.
• Reopen the document (without checking the "Ignore Rich Text Commands") and "presto": you've got your margins changed. Piece of cake.

[doublepost=1531507184][/doublepost]I am going to give this a try. Hope it works.

 

[simonmet]

Any reason you can't use Apple's free Pages or any of the billion other text editing programs?

 

[August51]

Any reason you can't use Apple's free Pages or any of the billion other text editing programs?

For me, the incomparable advantage of TextEdit is that it understands Apple's Desktop Workspaces.

I currently have 21 Desktop workspaces and most of them have open TextEdit window where I record project notes and To Do lists. I can reboot my computer and all of my TextEdit windows (including ones that were in Edited mode and not saved!) will be on the desktops where I originally had them. Most other word processors will not automatically reopen whatever windows had been there, and if they do, all of the windows will be in the first desktop, leaving me the onerous task of moving everything to where it had been before, out of a mountain of windows on that first desktop. Even Stickies does that, contradicting its name.

I wish I could change the default margins, but being able to change them straightforwardly, under the hood in the RTF, and use that as a template works well enough. I wish TE had a Markdown mode and a collapsing outliner mode and ... a whole bunch of things, including VIM's keyboard commands for editing.

No, it's not a replacement for Pages or Word. This discussion of margins is typical. It's use of Styles, if you can find it under Fonts and can understand it's kludgy UI, is limited but still useful. And it's not a replacement for VIM or Emacs or any code editor that is smart about the language you are coding in so that it can do syntax highlighting and code collapsing.

What makes TE essential for me is that I can use it as an ongoing, working notes tool, because I can pretty much count on things not getting lost. The computer can crash and when I reboot, even my unsaved notes are still there, on the right desktop, in the right location on the screen. No other text editor or word processor can touch that.